Identity, Values, and Mission
The Charter, created by the founder of Terre des hommes, Edmond Kaiser, establishes the identity of the Terre des hommes Foundation, its mission and its fundamental values. The Terre des hommes Charter declares that the distress of children is not irrevocable but that the sustained improvement of life in a damaged childhood is the primary objective of all of Terre des hommes’ projects.



The Terre des hommes Charter (1960)

For as long as a child is at risk of hunger, sickness, abandonment, misery, persecution or of any such difficulty, the Terre des hommes movement, created with this goal, will devote itself to their immediate rescue, and as completely as is possible. Having found the child, Terre des hommes will aid him or her in the most appropriate way and with the most appropriate means for his or her distress – within his or her country, if circumstances allow, or elsewhere if this is not the case. The child will therefore be nourished, cared for, given a family, brought into a life dignified by the rights of the child, and assured permanent, loving, and competent help.

Outside of any political, religious or racial concern, as an act of justice and not of condescension, acting with regard only to the living with neighbourly and self-effacing anonymity, Terre des hommes is constituted by voluntary and salaried activists with one solitary objective: to aid the child for whom he or she is both ambassador and instrument of life, survival and consolation. So that no one should remain ignorant – neither those who might be saved nor those who might save – Terre des hommes will attempt to alert and rally human society to the infinite distress of countless children.”